Deadly plane crash a setback for Ethiopia’s rise

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The crown jewel in Ethiopia’s transformationto a continental power in recent years has been its state-owned airlinethat calls itself “the new spirit of Africa.”

Sunday’s crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet that killed 157 people has set back those grand designs that were undertaken by a reformist new leader who has vowed to hold free and fair elections next year.

Now, Africa is mourning not only the victims of the aviation disaster but also a symbol of the continent’s rise.

“Thiscouldn’t have come at a worse time for Ethiopian Airlines,” NigerianPresident Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement, mindful that his owncountry, Africa’s largest economy, has no national carrier. “Like everyother African leader, I am proud of the fact that Ethiopian Airlinesrepresents one of Africa’s success stories.”

Africa’s onlyprofitable carrier, the airline is the symbol of a country shaking off adecades-old image of devastating poverty and famine.

Thanks inpart to financing from China, Ethiopia has ambitious projects ininfrastructure and industry that have facilitated some of Africa’sfastest rapid economic growth. These include one of the continent’s fewmetro rail services, a massive hydropower dam on the Nile and numerousprojects linking the landlocked nation with the Red Sea, one of theworld’s busiest shipping lanes.

“Many Ethiopians see yesterday. Isee tomorrow,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Africa’s youngest head ofgovernment, told The Financial Times last month in his first majorinterview.

Abiy, who took power in the country of some 110 millionpeople nearly a year ago, has freed opposition figures from jail,welcomed home exiles and made peace with neighboring Eritrea. These arestartling changes that he hopes to continue in business, opening theairline and other state-owned sectors to the world.

As morecountries and investors reach out to Africa, their gateway increasinglyis Ethiopia’s capital of Addis Ababa, where the crash occurred. The deadcame from 35 countries.

“Ethiopian Airways is a key player inlinking Africa to Gulf relations and a signature project of Ethiopia’sinternal capacity,” said Angelo Izama, a regional analyst based in theUnited Arab Emirates. “So the wider community basically took the crashas a shock to Ethiopia and its status as a potential hegemon in the Horn(of Africa) and in East Africa.”

In January, Addis Ababa’s BoleInternational Airport inaugurated a passenger terminal equipped tohandle 22 million visitors a year, tripling its capacity in a city thatis a diplomatic hub with the headquarters of the African Unioncontinental body.

The opening was a dramatic pushback against thelong-held image of African air travel as chaotic and dangerous on abustling continent of more than 1 billion people. Before Sunday, nomajor aviation accident had occurred in more than two years.

EthiopianAirlines appears determined to spread its success, reaching out toother African airlines for partnerships and investment. Many Africancarriers have collapsed in the last few decades, often because ofmismanagement.

In its push for dominance, Ethiopian Airlinescontinues to open new international routes, flying to nearly 120destinations. In January, it opened a route to Moscow and announcedplans for nonstop flights to Houston.

The company has been amongthe first buyers of commercial jets hitting the market. In 2012, itbecame the first in Africa, and one of the first around the globe, totake delivery of Boeing’s flagship Dreamliner jet. The purchase wascelebrated with fanfare at home as a source of immense pride.

EthiopianAirlines’ latest headline purchase was the Boeing 737 Max 8, the newestversion of the best-selling airliner in history. The airline ordered 30of them last year, and one of the planes was delivered in mid-November.

On Sunday, six minutes after takeoff, it crashed. No one yet knows why.

Within hours, both the prime minister and the airline’s CEO went to the crash site to pay their respects.